Manchester presses on with minimum price plan for alcohol

Greater Manchester is pressing on with plans for a bylaw which could force consumers to pay a minimum of £4.50 for a bottle of wine.

The 50p-a-unit bylaw, proposed by the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, would apply to off-licences and supermarkets as well as the on-trade.

The first draft of the bylaw will be discussed on Friday. The report outlining the plans acknowledges that the bylaw could be open to legal challenges from the drinks industry – and also accepts that some consumers would simply take their custom to shops and bars outside the Greater Manchester conurbation.

The report says: “Local authorities in Greater Manchester have been commended locally and nationally for their leadership in considering this approach in tackling the huge health and societal harm caused by alcohol misuse.

“Such harm is not unique to Greater Manchester, but Greater Manchester is disproportionately affected by alcohol related harm and it is appropriate for imaginative solutions to be considered.”

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We’ve all had impressed on us the idea that we mustn’t judge a book by its cover. It’s one we tend to repeat at opportune moments, while singularly failing to follow it when buying books, or anything else.